'Seriously' injured OPP officer airlifted for 'further observation'

A Parry Sound OPP officer received serious injuries Thursday morning while conducting traffic control on Highway 400 at the Highway124 ramp. The highway north of Parry Sound was closed after a separate crash involving two transports resulted in a chemical spill on the Key River bridge.
OPP photo

Two OPP officers were injured early Thursday after a pair of transports collided on the bridge at Key River, closing a section of Highway 69.

One officer was exposed to potentially harmful chemicals at the scene of the crash, while the other was struck in her cruiser near Parry Sound while diverting traffic via Highway 124.

Carlo Berardi, a spokesperson with the North East OPP, said the first officer was released from hospital by Thursday afternoon, while the second had been “airlifted to a larger centre for further observation.” Her injuries were described as serious but non-life-threatening.

Both officers are female members of the West Parry Sound detachment, Berardi said, but the OPP were not naming them at this time.

Neither of the transport drivers was injured, nor was the driver whose vehicle struck the cruiser near Parry Sound. Their vehicle, however, was badly damaged: An OPP photo shows the front of the vehicle was caved in and one of the wheels folded inward.

Berardi noted the OPP officer was inside her cruiser and had its lights activated when the collision occurred at the ramp to Highway 124.

The crash at Key River occurred shortly before 6 a.m., the OPP said, and resulted in a chemical spill, although the exact nature of the material was still being assessed, according to Berardi.

“They are determining what the hazardous goods were,” he said. “There was a spill but it has been contained.” The remaining cleanup was described as minimal.

Ghaffar Khan, owner of Key Marine, said he was still asleep when the crash occurred outside his resort and gas station, but became aware of it soon thereafter.

He said the two transports “collided right in the middle of the bridge, blocking both the lanes, northbound and southbound.”

Vehicles heading south used his parking lot to turn around and double back, where they could take Highway 522 through Port Loring as a detour.

Khan said there is still open water under the bridge and its icy surface was likely a factor in the collision.

Both transports remained on the bridge late into the day Thursday, as crews specializing in hazardous materials arrived, said the marine owner.

The first OPP officer to respond to the crash “inhaled some fumes,” Kahn said he learned from emergency workers, “so they had to transfer her to the hospital.”

The marina operator wasn’t too concerned about the river being contaminated by the spill as the crash itself wasn’t “too, too bad,” he said. “They’re just two transport trucks in an ugly way of parking on the bridge.”

He said Thursday’s crash is the second major incident he has encountered at the bridge in the 18 years he has been owner of Key Marine.

About 10 years ago, a young man died after his vehicle collided with a transport. Kahn said it took “about seven to eight hours to figure out how many people were in the car,” as it was so badly crushed.

OPP photoTwo transports collided early Thursday morning on the bridge at Key River. Highway 69 remained closed south of the accident scene all day as police investigated the crash and crews cleaned up a spill of hazardous material.

The highway through Key River is one of the few sections of 69 that remains two-laned, which may have contributed to the collision, although Kahn was hesitant to put too much blame on the infrastructure.

“If it was four lanes the may have been avoided, but the main reason I think was slippery road conditions,” he said.

Motorists were encouraged to detour around the closed section of Highway 69 by taking Highways 522 and 124 to Highway 11.

The OPP said 69 could be open again to traffic later Thursday evening.